tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243802272018-05-29T01:23:37.589-04:00Jackfruityrebekahnoreply@blogger.comBlogger286125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-67016278279807855032009-11-14T17:45:00.001-05:002009-11-14T17:46:43.212-05:00Goodbye, BloggerI made the switch today. Jackfruity is now at <a href="http://jackfruity.com">jackfruity.com</a>.<br /><br />I'm off to a world of plugins and shiny, shiny dashboards....<br /><br />Love,<br />JFrebekahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-28645134840531240992009-11-14T15:00:00.001-05:002009-11-14T15:02:54.795-05:00WordCamp NYC 2009<a href="http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org" title="WordCampNYC – Nov 14-15"><img alt="WordCampNYC – Nov 14-15" src="http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org/files/2009/10/wcnyc-attending-125.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 10px 10px;" /></a>I'm at <a href="http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org/">WordCamp NYC</a> today, hopping from session to session of a <a href="http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org/program/saturday-schedule/">superbly colorful schedule</a>. I signed up partly to hang out with <a href="http://jeremyclarke.org" title="Jeremy Clarke, web developer extraordinaire">Jer</a>, who's <a href="http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org/speakers/">presenting</a> twice this afternoon, and partly to learn what WordPress can do for me and for the <a href="http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/">SIPA</a> academic community. <br /><br />In that vein, I'm flipping back and forth between the <a href="http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org/program/saturday-sessions/#edu">academic</a> and <a href="http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org/program/saturday-sessions/#begdev">beginning developer</a> tracks. I spent part of this morning at <a href="http://clioweb.org/">Jeremy Bogg's</a> session on using WordPress in an academic setting, and I find myself itching to set up a site with <a href="http://www.futureofthebook.org/commentpress/">Commentpress</a> for a paper I'm co-writing on African media coverage of extractive industries.<br /><br />Right now I'm sitting in the beginning developer room, listening to <a href="http://allancole.com/">Allan Cole</a> attempt to talk about creating child themes without accidentally making his presentation X-rated (so far we've covered "choosing a mate" and "child bearing hips"). His talk (and the one before, a general intro to theming by <a href="http://wpmama.com/">Daisy Olsen</a>) have me reading through <a href="http://themorningsidepost.com">The Morningside Post's</a> template files to see if I can make both the code and the design cleaner.<br /><br />If that fact that I feel guilty and embarassed about publishing this on Blogger means anything, I think WordCamp's <a href="http://jackfruity.blogspot.com/2009/10/traitor.html">doing its job</a>. Jackfruity.com, powered by WordPress, coming soon.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-88585992251897725312009-10-24T21:01:00.005-04:002009-10-24T21:34:24.798-04:00the cost of climate changeEconomists <a href="http://www.wri.org/publication/content/7798">estimate</a> the impact of climate change at 5 to 20 percent of global GDP. Five percent. Doesn't sound too bad, right?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/SuOjyG4Bu_I/AAAAAAAAAu8/zAobQe1OkhE/s1600-h/5percentgdpmap.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 264px; padding: 5px; border: 1px solid #CCC;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/SuOjyG4Bu_I/AAAAAAAAAu8/zAobQe1OkhE/s400/5percentgdpmap.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396336859754380274" /></a><br /><br />This map, courtesy of <a href="http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/06/how-to-destroy-almost-half-planet-for.html">FiveThirtyEight</a> via <a href="http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/397-eliminating-the-bottom-5/">Strange Maps</a>, shows what the world would look like without the countries that make up the bottom 5% of global GDP. For the record, that's sixty-four countries:<br /><br /><br /><ul class="blocklist"><li>Afghanistan</li><li>Bangladesh</li><li>Benin</li><li>Bhutan</li><li>Bolivia</li><li>Burkina Faso</li><li>Burundi</li><li>Cambodia</li><li>Cameroon</li><li>Central African Republic</li><li>Chad</li><li>Comoros</li><li>Côte d'Ivoire</li><li>Democratic Republic of the Congo</li><li>Djibouti</li><li>Egypt</li><li>Eritrea</li><li>Ethiopia</li><li>Gambia</li><li>Ghana</li><li>Guinea</li><li>Guinea-Bissau</li><li>Guyana</li><li>Haiti</li><li>Honduras</li><li>India</li><li>Kenya</li><li>Kiribati</li><li>Kyrgyzstan</li><li>Laos</li><li>Lesotho</li><li>Liberia</li><li>Madagascar</li><li>Malawi</li><li>Mali</li><li>Mauritania</li><li>Moldova</li><li>Mongolia</li><li>Mozambique</li><li>Myanmar</li><li>Nepal</li><li>Nicaragua</li><li>Niger</li><li>Nigeria</li><li>Pakistan</li><li>Papua New Guinea</li><li>Philippines</li><li>Rwanda</li><li>São Tomé and Príncipe</li><li>Senegal</li><li>Sierra Leone</li><li>Solomon Islands</li><li>Sri Lanka</li><li>Sudan</li><li>Tajikistan</li><li>Tanzania</li><li>Timor-Leste</li><li>Togo</li><li>Uganda</li><li>Uzbekistan</li><li>Vietnam</li><li>Yemen</li><li>Zambia</li><li>Zimbabwe</li></ul><br /><br /><br clear="left" />rebekahnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-24281266068685940612009-10-23T15:46:00.002-04:002009-10-23T15:55:27.497-04:00gays and gorillasI finally got a chance to catch up on Google Reader today. Some things you should see:<br /><br /><ul><li><a href="http://ugabytes.org/nod/?q=node/612">Friend a Gorilla</a><br /><em>For one dollar a year, you can friend a gorilla through the Uganda Wildlife Authority.</em><br />"Anyone can be a friend of a gorilla or follow specific gorillas living the forest on Facebook or Twitter for a minimum donation of $1. You will get updates on your gorilla friend(s), including photos, videos, and GPS coordinates, all of which are gathered by actual trackers that visit the gorillas daily."</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.eafricainfocus.com/2009/10/21/ethiopia-2010-here-comes-africa%E2%80%99s-festival-of-electoral-fraud/">Ethiopia 2010: Here Comes Africa’s Festival of Electoral Fraud</a><br /><em>An overview of recent elections in Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe, looking forward to Ethiopia.</em><br />"The glimmer of hope shimmering in the Ghanaian experiment proves that multiparty democracy can be successfully instituted in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa, without bloodshed. Failure to do so may once again force Africans to prudently heed Victor Hugo’s admonition: 'When dictatorship is fact, revolution becomes a right.' If it gets to that point, it’s going to be a quagmire too difficult to get out of this time."</li><br /><li><a href="http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/10/20/the-10000-hour-initiative/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-10000-hour-initiative">The 10,000 Hour Initiative</a><br /><em>Jon Gos at <a href="http://appfrica.net">Appfrica</a> is starting a program to support young programmers, bloggers and new media enthusiasts.</em><br />"Instead of creating institutions from scratch that require enormous resources and high overhead (rent, security, staff etc) the 10,000 Hour Initiative would identify talented individuals and create co-working and co-learning spaces (dubbed 10K Spaces) for them at existing institutions and businesses. The program would allow youth to interact with other peers as well as trained professionals who could tutor and mentor them, helping them to improve their skills, while exposing them to new technologies, ideas and fields they may not have been aware of."</li><br /><li><a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/10/20/uganda-bloggers-discuss-anti-gay-bill/">GV Uganda: Bloggers discuss anti-gay bill</a><br /><em>A new bill, currently tabled in the Uganda parliament, will increase penalties for homosexuality and add penalties for spreading information about homosexuality. Terrifying and sad. Haute Haiku covers bloggers' reactions for Global Voices.</em><br />"Anengiyefa sees that Uganda has just seen hypocrisy of MPs who have unified and are ready to pass a law victimizing homosexuality in the name of morality: this beats the purpose why the system is so anxious to criminalize consensual sex amongst two adults of the same gender and omitting important issues like ethnic violence, tribalism, AIDS, child rape etc."</li></ul>rebekahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-75006742060106446702009-10-17T11:10:00.000-04:002009-10-17T11:11:44.209-04:00traitor.I've been using Blogger for six years. It's seen me through angsty college musings, a public <a href="http://rebekahtodo.blogspot.com/">to-do list</a>, the beginnings of a <a href="http://you-can-cook.blogspot.com/">cooking blog</a>, an ill-fated attempt at <a href="http://rebekahinrussian.blogspot.com/">blogging in Russian</a>, and an even iller-fated attempt at <a href="http://rebekahingerman.blogspot.com/">Rebekah auf Deutsch</a>. Oh, and this here web log.<br /><br />When I started blogging, WordPress.com didn't exist, and everyone I knew who wasn't using Xanga (cringe) or LiveJournal (ditto) was on Blogger. But as I've continued, more and more of my friends have defected, falling head over heels for WP's plugins and beautiful themes and shiny dashboards and seamless post tagging (Blogger was sadly late to the post categorization party) and integrated commenting (remember the days of Haloscan?).<br /><br />To which my response has always been: bah humbug.<br /><br />You see, I'm a bit of a Scrooge: I like Blogger. Specifically, I like the control it gives me over my template and the fact that I have this control absolutely free of charge.<br /><br />But in the meantime I've grown up and moved to the Big City and somehow become editor and technical director of one of the <a href="http://themorningsidepost.com/">best graduate school blogs on international affairs in the country</a>. And we use WordPress.<br /><br />And I like it.<br /><br />A lot.<br /><br /><a href="http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org" title="WordCampNYC – Nov 14-15"><img alt="WordCampNYC – Nov 14-15" src="http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org/files/2009/10/wcnyc-attending-250.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 10px 10px;"/></a>Which is why I'm spending November 13 and 14 at <a href="http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org/">WordCamp NYC</a>, surrounded by WordPress lovers and their shiny, shiny dashboards.<br /><br />If things go well (for the shiny dashboard people), I may even swaddle my precious Jackfruity baby in WordPress clothes.<br /><br /><a href="http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org/tickets/">Care to join me?</a><br clear="right" />rebekahnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-45303397364568992292009-10-16T10:41:00.004-04:002009-10-16T11:28:38.131-04:00(Belated) Blog Action Day: Climate Change<a href="http://www.blogactionday.org"><img src="http://www.blogactionday.org/imgs/badges/bad-300-250.jpg" border=0 style="float: right; margin: 0 0 10px 10px;"/></a>My post for <a href="http://jackfruity.blogspot.com/2008/10/jackfruit-of-week-101508-blog-action.html">last year's Blog Action Day on poverty</a> focused on my friend Halle's fair trade organization in Uganda, <a href="http://www.onemangotree.com/">One Mango Tree</a>.<br /><br />This year's topic is climate change, and I'm equally excited to talk about the work another of my friends is doing. For the last six weeks I've been working with <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org">Global Voices</a> on a project with <a href="http://www.ms.dk/">MS Action Aid Denmark</a> called <a href="http://globalchangenow.net/">Global Change</a>.<br /><br />Global Voices has paired its own bloggers &mdash; myself included &mdash; with students in the Global Change course, who have been studying climate change and climate justice in preparation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.<br /><br />I met <a href="http://globalchangenow.net/sarah/">Sarah</a> through the project: she's a student in Copenhagen, and she's leaving in a few days for Kenya with some <a href="http://globalchangenow.net/">other Global Change-ers</a>, where the group will continue their studies and, hopefully, bring back stories of how climate change is affecting people's lives there.<br /><br />Today Sarah and her colleagues are in front of the Danish Parliament, where they're observing <a href="http://www.worldfooddayusa.org/">World Food Day</a> by banging pots and pans to, in Sarah's words, "get the politicians to pay attention to the fact that 1 billion people are suffering from hunger right now."<br /><br /><div style="float: right; width: 138px; padding: 5px; border: 1px solid #DDD; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/StiLeP_EhiI/AAAAAAAAAus/1v0uS4RaeAA/s1600-h/Picture+3.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 138px; height: 146px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/StiLeP_EhiI/AAAAAAAAAus/1v0uS4RaeAA/s320/Picture+3.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393213905579574818" /><br /></a><br />treehugger<br /><a href="http://www.demockratees.com/treehugger.html">demockratees</a></div>It can be easy to forget that climate change is about more than trees and cuddly animals and fish swimming around in some distant ocean &mdash; all of which I care about, don't get me wrong (especially the cuddly animals). But climate change also has real, physical effects on humans: it's altering weather patterns in unpredictable ways, causing crops to fail for lack of rain in some places while floods wash away entire fields in others.<br /><br />Climate change is one of the driving forces behind the <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,911503,00.html">world food crisis</a>, which, as Sarah pointed out, affects a substantial portion of the world's population. <br /><br />To sum up: Climate change. It's not just koalas.<br /><br />Kudos to Sarah and the entire <a href="http://globalchangenow.net/">Global Change</a> crew for realizing this.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-76633306135160812082009-09-24T08:50:00.002-04:002009-09-24T08:58:48.311-04:00Australian radio show features citizen journalism in UgandaAfter I published an article for the Committee to Protect Journalists on <a href="http://cpj.org/blog/2009/09/in-uganda-citizen-journalists-fill-news-gap-during.php">citizen journalism during the Kampala riots</a>, Shevonne Hunt of Australian radio show <a href="http://www.2ser.com/programs/shows/thefourthestate">The Fourth Estate</a> contacted me to talk about the role Twitter and blogs played in the crisis.<br /><br /><a href="http://rogueking.com/">Solomon King</a> (the force behind Ugandan blog aggregator <a href="http://blogspirit.ug">Blogspirit</a> and one of the most prolific tweeters during the riots) and I are featured in the show's most recent podcast. You can access it at <a href="http://www.2ser.com/programs/shows/thefourthestate">The Fourth Estate</a> (scroll down to the bottom, click "Show Episodes," and choose the episode from September 25).<br /><br />As <a href="http://rogueking.com/life/the-4th-estate-podcast-on-citizen-journalism-in-uganda">Solomon says</a>, hope I did all of you justice!rebekahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-43755085866221816812009-09-15T20:48:00.003-04:002009-09-15T20:53:35.571-04:00The Internet vs. the printing press: am I wrong?<a href="http://jackfruity.blogspot.com/2007/05/blogren.html">Blogren</a>, <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=berktern">Berkterns</a> and others, I need your advice.<br /><br />I'm taking a class on the social impact of mass media. Tonight we discussed the printing press, and how print lends &mdash; now less than before, but I think it still applies &mdash; a legitimacy to thought that ideas that haven't been committed to paper lack.<br /><br />Someone suggested that all new forms of media give increased levels of authority to the ideas they transmit &mdash; not just print, but radio and television as well.<br /><br />I argued that this rule doesn't hold for the Internet, and I was promptly shot down by a surprisingly large number of people in the class. Their points were:<br /><br /><ul><li>The Internet isn't a grand democratic commons. It's highly elite.</li><br /><li>People do believe everything they read on the Internet. One example was a newspaper in Bangladesh reprinting a full article from <a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/index">The Onion</a>, not understanding that it was a joke.</li></ul><br />I concede the first point. The Internet is definitely not a perfectly democratic commons, though I maintain that, compared to the <em>highly</em> expensive, <em>highly</em> rare (not to mention <em>extremely</em> heavy) printing press, it is far more accessible to the average citizen, whether we're speaking domestically or globally. Though it requires access to a computer, Internet access can often be had cheaply or for free through government programs or at public libraries or Internet caf&eacute;s. <br /><br />More importantly, the cost of publication and distribution online is so comparatively small &mdash; and the amount of information published and distributed so comparatively great &mdash; that I believe it's disingenuous to say that the Internet and the printing press endow ideas with the same authority. Being exceedingly careful to avoid value judgements, I submit that the blog is a very different beast than the Bible.<br /><br />As for the second point, I would argue that the confusion over what is and is not a legitimate source online stems more from cultural &mdash; and here I include generational &mdash; differences than from a sense that all things online are true. Expecting accurate cross-cultural interpretations of satire is demanding quite a lot from journalists whose native language is likely not English, as is expecting accurate assessments of spam from someone who still thinks it comes in a can.<br /><br />So. Am I totally wrong? And if so, why? I was born the same year Apple introduced the Macintosh and got my first e-mail account in sixth grade, so my knowledge of the Internet is primarily first-hand, rather than scholarly. Any articles to which you can refer me would be greatly appreciated, but I'm also looking for personal opinions. When did you first access the Internet? How? Where? Why? What did you think? <br /><br />The comments are open, folks. Looking forward to your thoughts.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-48050332314972437462009-09-13T12:43:00.003-04:002009-09-13T13:05:26.695-04:00GV Uganda: Blogs, Twitter Keep World Informed as Kampala Riots ContinueThings seem to have <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/09/2009912232651607132.html">settled down</a> somewhat in Kampala, where riots on Thursday and Friday caused <a href="http://jackfruity.blogspot.com/2009/09/gv-uganda-eight-dead-in-kampala-riots.html">at least nine</a> and possibly as many as <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/sun_news/500_suspects_held_14_dead_in_city_riot_91255.shtml">14 deaths</a>. <br /><br />I've been glued to my laptop for the past few days, feverishly refreshing <a href="http://tweetdeck.com/beta/">TweetDeck</a> and Google Reader and paging through <a href="http://blogspirit.ug/">Blogspirit</a>, hoping for news of friends in the city. I'm not the only one: accurate information has been hard to come by, and people both in and out of Uganda have relied on blogs and Twitter for much of their news about the riots. This is the subject of my most recent piece on <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org">Global Voices Online</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>As <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/09/11/uganda-nine-dead-in-kampala-riots/">riots shook Kampala</a>, the capital of Uganda, for the second day, bloggers and other netizens rallied to keep the world informed.<br /><br />Within 24 hours of the <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/09/11/uganda-nine-dead-in-kampala-riots/">first riots</a>, concerned Kampalans launched <a href="http://www.ugandawitness.net/">Uganda Witness</a>, a crisis reporting site where Ugandans can share news of deaths, looting, presence of government forces and other related information. As of Friday afternoon (9pm GMT) the site had received multiple reports of rioting in downtown Kampala and several of the city's suburbs.<br /><br /><a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/09/13/uganda-blogs-twitter-keep-world-informed-as-kampala-riots-continue/">Read the full post &raquo;</a></blockquote><br />Featured in the post are <a href="http://www.ugandawitness.net/">Uganda Witness</a>, the 27th Comrade writing for <a href="http://thekampalan.blogspot.com/2009/09/these-pretty-little-riots-of-ours.html">The Kampalan</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/dgel/status/3915420999">@dgel</a>, <a href="http://www.independent.co.ug/index.php/uganda-talks-/government-hits-back-on-criticism-of-radio-bans.html">Uganda Talks</a>, <a href="http://fresh-apples.blogspot.com/2009/09/more-uganda-riot-updates.html">Fresh Apples</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/mugumya/statuses/3910858051">@mugamuya</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/UgInsomniac/statuses/3916264232">@uginsomniac</a> and <a href="http://ugandaninsomniac.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/doing-cbs-a-diservice/">Ugandan Insomniac</a>, <a href="http://themalans.blogspot.com/2009/09/never-dull-moment.html">The Malan Family</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/CamaraAfrica/status/3915619763">@CamaraAfrica</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/solomonking/statuses/3910799825">@solomonking</a>, and Jon Gos of <a href="http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/11/update-kampala-riots-continue/">Appfrica</a>.<br /><br />Today Jon posted his thoughts on <a href="http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/">asynchronous info, disjointed data and crisis reporting</a> during the riots. Well worth a read.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-63172421925347272812009-09-12T19:50:00.002-04:002009-09-12T20:09:50.989-04:00Calestous Juma on how Seacom will change everythingIn addition to <a href="http://jackfruity.blogspot.com/2009/07/no-more-namibia-china-blocks-search.html">censorship in China</a> and <a href="http://opennet.net/blog/2009/06/cracking-down-digital-communication-and-political-organizing-iran">Twitter in Tehran</a>, I spent a decent part of this summer writing about Internet infrastructure in Africa. The summer had plenty of stories: <a href="http://jackfruity.blogspot.com/2009/07/damaged-cable-causes-internet-blackout.html">damage to the SAT-3 cable</a> in western Africa caused major Internet blackouts in Nigeria, Niger, Togo and Benin, a situation that hopefully won't happen again now that Nigeria's new <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/09/07/nigeria-new-submarine-internet-cable-lands-in-lagos/">GLO-1 cable has arrived</a>.<br /><br />But the biggest story of all was <a href="http://jackfruity.blogspot.com/2009/07/gv-africa-arrival-of-seacom-cable.html">Seacom</a>: a new cable connecting eastern Africa to the global undersea cable system. For years eastern Africa has been the only part of the continent without access to this system. Seacom's arrival will bring faster, cheaper broadband Internet to a number of countries that have long relied on expensive satellite connections.<br /><br />While I haven't personally experienced the joys of Seacom yet (though here's hoping I'll be back in Uganda at some point before the end of the year), friends tell me it's mindblowing. The 27th Comrade <a href="http://thekampalan.blogspot.com/2009/09/uber-fast-internet-natural-mystic.html">writes</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>Something big—quite big—and fast—very, <em>very</em> fast—is happening here.</blockquote><br />As excited as the blogren and I are about Seacom, Harvard professor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calestous_Juma">Calestous Juma</a> is even more thrilled. Professor Juma is one of the world's leading experts on how science and technology can contribute to sustainable development, and <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2009/09/juma">here's what</a> he has to say about Seacom:<br /><br /><blockquote>The launching of <a href="http://www.seacom.mu/index2.asp">Seacom’s</a> fiber optic cable in July was the single most important infrastructure investment in eastern Africa since the construction of the Uganda Railway, then dubbed “The Lunatic Express."</blockquote><br /><em>The single most important infrastructure investment since the construction of the Uganda Railway.</em> For those of you who aren't familiar with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunatic_Express">The Lunatic Express</a>, its construction began in the 19th century.<br /><br />Professor Juma will be at Harvard's <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2009/09/juma">Berkman Center</a> on Tuesday afternoon to discuss broadband and Internet policy in East Africa. I've been debating how many of my limbs I would be willing to give to be able to see his talk in person, but unfortunately you can't buy time or a train ticket with bodily extremities these days. I'll settle for watching the <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/webcast">webcast</a>.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-56885461446787375162009-09-11T11:25:00.005-04:002009-09-11T17:14:59.232-04:00GV Uganda: Nine Dead in Kampala RiotsAnyone who visits Jackfruity has probably heard of the Kampala riots by now. I put together a post for <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org">Global Voices Online</a> last night on the situation in the city, and I'll be writing more as the situation continues.<br /><br />I'm following the bloggers on <a href="http://www.blogspirit.ug/">Blogspirit</a> as well as <a href="http://twitter.com/solomonking">@solomonking</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/ugandatalks">@UgandaTalks</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/uginsomniac">@uginsomniac</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/appfrica">@appfrica</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/annemugisha">@AnneMugisha</a> and others on Twitter.<br /><br />For now, here's the post on Global Voices:<br /><br /><blockquote>Riots in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, have led to the deaths of at least <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8250357.stm">nine</a> people (BBC) as members of the Baganda ethnic group clashed with police and military forces on Wednesday and Thursday.<br /><br />The riots are an escalation of an ongoing feud between the central Ugandan government and the King (or “Kabaka”) of the Baganda tribe, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II. The Baganda people belong to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buganda">Kingdom of Buganda</a>, and they are the largest Ugandan ethnic group. <br /><br />Last week, Mutebi announced that he was planning an official visit to Kayunga, a district about 45km (28 miles) northeast of Kampala. The district is part of the Kingdom of Buganda, but it is also home to many members of the Banyala ethnic group, many of whom would prefer to establish their own independent kingdom.<br /><br />Banyala leaders <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/regional-special/Banyala_plan_to_demonstrate_against_Kabaka_s_visit_90642.shtml">announced</a> they would protest the visit and warned Mutebi not to come. The central government responded by <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/sun_news/Govt_warns_Kabaka_against_visiting_Kayunga_90866.shtml">warning</a> Mutebi to stay out of the district and <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/Teargas_as_tension_builds_in_Kayunga_90982.shtml">arresting</a> several Baganda people in the area who were erecting exhibition stalls and tents in preparation for his arrival.<br /><br /><a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/09/11/uganda-nine-dead-in-kampala-riots/">Read the full post &raquo;</a></blockquote><br />In this post are <a href="http://thecalflaments.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/the-public-reading-and-why-i-am-so-freaked-out-right-now/">Flourescent</a>, <a href="http://fresh-apples.blogspot.com/2009/09/dead-people-tear-gas-suffocating.html">Fresh Apples</a>, <a href="http://gayuganda.blogspot.com/2009/09/chaos-in-kampala.html">GayUganda</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/solomonking/statuses/3894872496">@solomonking</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/appfrica/statuses/3909276254">@appfrica</a>, <a href="http://araalinuga.blogspot.com/2009/09/sht-hitting-fan-im-somehow-fine-in-my.html">Araalingua</a> and <a href="http://ugandaninsomniac.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/armed-and-afraid/">Ugandan Insomniac</a>.<br /><br />For those of you who are in Kampala and are Tweeting, blogging, and posting Facebook updates: thank you so much for keeping the rest of us informed. My thoughts are with you.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-29743359650845197192009-09-07T17:51:00.003-04:002009-09-07T17:56:08.005-04:00GV Nigeria: New Submarine Internet Cable Lands in LagosMy next piece is up at <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org">Global Voices Online</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>The arrival of the <a href="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/09/06/glo-1-submarine-cable-lands-in-lagos/">GLO-1 submarine cable</a> in Lagos this weekend has West African bloggers excited. GLO-1 connects Nigeria and 13 other West African countries to the global telecommunications system via Europe, bringing new bandwidth to the region.<br /><br />In late July, damage to the SAT-3 cable — which until last weekend was Nigeria's only link to the global communications system — <a href="http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=150076">crippled</a> bank services and Internet access throughout the country. Approximately <a href="http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=149978">70 percent</a> of the country's bandwidth was affected.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=153634">According to</a> the Chief Operating Officer of Globacom Limited, which financed the GLO-1 project, the new system will be able to meet all of Nigeria's broadband needs for the next 15 to 20 years. Bloggers are looking forward to faster speeds and cheaper and more reliable access. <br /><br /><a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/09/07/nigeria-new-submarine-internet-cable-lands-in-lagos/">Read the full post &raquo;</a></blockquote>rebekahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-59616006274729886012009-09-02T16:02:00.005-04:002009-09-02T16:14:04.623-04:00new social media filtering maps from the opennet initiativeThe summer of 2009 was a hectic one for online social media: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a bevy of other sites fell under the censors' axe in China and Iran as political events &mdash; namely the <a href="http://opennet.net/blog/2009/06/china-blocks-twitter-hotmail-flickr-tiananmen-anniversary">anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre</a> and the <a href="http://opennet.net/blog/2009/06/cracking-down-digital-communication-and-political-organizing-iran">Iranian presidential election</a> &mdash; shook both countries.<br /><br />If you've been having a hard time keeping track of whether Twitter is accessible in Tehran or if Fallujah is blocked Facebook, you're not alone. Luckily, I just completed a project for the <a href="http://opennet.net">OpenNet Initiative</a> to help you out.<br /><br />Based on testing conducted in 2008-2009, ONI has compiled data on the most frequently blocked social media sites around the world. We are proud to present five new <a href="http://opennet.net/research/map/socialmedia">social media filtering maps</a> that serve as easy visual guides to the countries where Facebook, Flickr, Orkut, Twitter and YouTube are blocked.<br /><br />Visit them now, and lay your social media filtering questions to rest.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-14705350714050553952009-08-16T21:22:00.001-04:002009-08-16T21:23:46.669-04:00Global Voices Blogger of the Week: Haute HaikuMy next piece is up at <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org">Global Voices Online</a> &mdash; it's a profile of Kenyan blogger <a href="http://gaylifekenya.blogspot.com/">Haute Haiku</a>, who covers the GLBT African blogosphere for Global Voices. Check it out:<br /><br /><blockquote><a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/author/haute-haiku/">Haute Haiku</a> is one of Global Voices' newest Sub-Saharan African authors. He writes about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) blogosphere in Africa, including bloggers' thoughts on <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/07/23/africa-bloggers-discuss-hivaids-among-gay-african-men/">HIV transmission among men who have sex with men</a>, and <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/06/10/africa-gay-and-lesbian-voices-in-african-blogosphere/">how gays and lesbians are treated in East Africa</a>. Haute also blogs about being a gay man in Africa on his personal blog, <a href="http://gaylifekenya.blogspot.com/">Single gay life in Kenya</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/08/17/blogger-of-the-week-haute-haiku-from-kenya/">Read the interview &raquo;</a></blockquote>rebekahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-70594008509512584762009-07-29T14:24:00.001-04:002009-07-29T14:27:27.688-04:00Damaged cable causes Internet blackout in four West African countries<em>Crossposted on the <a href="http://opennet.net/blog/2009/07/damaged-cable-causes-internet-blackout-four-west-african-countries">OpenNet Initiative Blog</a></em><br /><br />Five days ago, the <a href="http://appfrica.net/blog/?nomobile">Appfrica tech blog</a> reported an <a href="http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/07/24/internet-blackout-in-benin-due-to-cut-sat-3/">Internet blackout</a> in Benin, a West African country roughly the size of Ohio. The outage, which also affected neighboring Togo, Niger and Nigeria, was caused by damage to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sat3">SAT-3 submarine communications cable</a>, which links Portugal and Spain to South Africa via the West African coastline.<br /><br /><center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/SnCUCJaZr8I/AAAAAAAAAtc/ZBx6Ff5S2BM/s1600-h/SAFE-SAT3-WASC-route.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 226px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/SnCUCJaZr8I/AAAAAAAAAtc/ZBx6Ff5S2BM/s320/SAFE-SAT3-WASC-route.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363949920805564354" /></a></center><br /><br />The Internet blackout left Benin, Togo and Niger without an optical fiber link to the outside world, meaning Internet users in these countries have been forced to rely on rare, expensive satellite connections to get online. Appfrica managing editor Theresa Carpenter Sondjo, who is based in Benin, writes:<br /><br /><blockquote>The line to use the computers runs out the door. Every computer is taken, and most have two or three people hovering over its operator. I am the only woman.</blockquote><br /><br />In Nigeria, the damage to the SAT-3 cable has affected approximately <a href="http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=149978">70 percent</a> of the country's bandwidth, <a href="http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=150076">"crippling"</a> bank services and Internet access. Access issues in the country are further complicated by the failure of Nigerian telecommunications operator Nitel to pay its dues to the SAT-3 Consortium, which has <a href="http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4070:nigeria-cut-off-from-sat3-over-nitels-unpaid-fee&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18">disconnected</a> the Nigerian end of the cable.<br /><br />Speaking yesterday to Nigeria's <em>Business Day</em>, Lanre Ajayi, the president of the Nigeria Internet Group, described the cable as "a critical national resource because of its importance to the economy and to security." Ajayi has <a href="http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4099:fg-urged-to-declare-sat-3-critical-national-infrastructure&catid=85:national&Itemid=340">called on the government</a> to declare the SAT-3 cable a "critical national infrastructure."<br /><br />When damage to the FLAG and SEA-ME-WE 4 undersea cable systems <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7218008.stm">disrupted service</a> in the Middle East and South Asia, knocking out a substantial percentage of Internet activity in Egypt, India and several other countries, operators were able to reroute service and continue to provide access. <br /><br />In West Africa, rerouting is more difficult: SAT-3 is the only cable connecting the region to the rest of the world, and telecoms operators must negotiate deals with neighboring countries to direct Internet traffic overland until it reaches another country's landing cable. Benin's landing cable services all four countries affected by the damage. Benin has managed to <a href="http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/07/28/benin-is-back-togo-and-niger-not-so-much/">work out</a> an alternate path that routes traffic through the landing cable in Côte d'Ivoire, but Togo and Niger are unable to afford the necessary deals. They will likely have to rely on satellite access until a repair ship, on its way from South Africa, reaches Benin and fixes the cable. The blackout is expected to last <a href="http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=149978">at least 10 days</a> in total.<br /><br />Strangely, news of the blackout has yet to reach the international media. Though Internet penetration rates in the affected countries are low &mdash; Nigeria is the highest, at 7.3 percent; with Togo (5.4 percent), Benin (1.9 percent) and Niger (0.5 percent) following &mdash; a blackout of this scale seems to deserve more attention than it's gotten thus far. The lack of press coverage begs the question: if the Internet disappears in four countries, but the countries are in Africa, is it still a story?rebekahnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-88136709540486729952009-07-24T13:27:00.004-04:002009-07-24T13:33:41.125-04:00GV Africa: The arrival of Seacom cable sparks debateMy next post is up at <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org">Global Voices Online</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>The arrival of an undersea cable that will increase bandwidth and lower Internet access costs throughout Africa has sparked debate and interest in the African blogoshere. <a href="http://www.seacom.mu/index2.asp">Seacom</a>, which links South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique to Europe and Asia, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/23/east-africa-broadband-revolution">went live</a> on Thursday, connecting eastern and southern Africa to the global broadband network.<br /><br />Johannesburg, Nairobi and Kampala <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iHrESmY6eTaALo3tbsjwGSPkPP1Q">received their connections</a> on Thursday, and Addis Ababa and Kigali are expected to follow. The cable's arrival was originally scheduled for early July, but <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200906290065.html">pirate attacks</a> off the coast of Somalia delayed operations.<br /><br /><a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/07/24/africa-the-arrival-of-seacom-cable-sparks-debate/">Read more &raquo;</a></blockquote><br /><br />Lots of bloggers in this one: <a href="http://itblogkenya.blogspot.com/2009/07/seacom_22.html">IT Blog Kenya</a>, <a href="http://inanafricanminute.blogspot.com/2009/07/kung-fu-baby-and-seacom-cable-launch.html">In an African Minute</a>, <a href="http://www.techmasai.com/2009/07/24/seacom-the-under-sea-cable-has-arrived/">TechMasai</a>, <a href="http://naijablog.blogspot.com/2009/07/east-africa-goes-broadband.html">NaijaBlog</a>, <a href="http://www.kachwanya.com/?p=428">Kachwanya</a>, <a href="http://www.truekenyan.com/2009/07/23/oh-kenyans-we-have-been-duped-again/">True Kenyan</a>, <a href="http://issamichuzi.blogspot.com/2009/07/jk-azindua-kituo-cha-mkongo-wa-fibre.html">Issa Michuzi</a> [SW], and <a href="http://jellyfishcoolman.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/seacom-goes-live/">Jellyfish</a>, plus Twitter-ers <a href="http://twitter.com/ncallegari/statuses/2815733071">ncallegari</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/dnyaga/status/2808617797">dnyaga</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/mentalacrobatic/statuses/2804058608">mentalacrobatic</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/akianastasiou/status/2797795511">akianastasiou</a>.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-41908711405082696442009-07-22T16:11:00.001-04:002009-07-22T16:13:26.698-04:00No more Namibia: China blocks search results for entire country<em>Crossposted at the <a href="http://opennet.net/blog/2009/07/no-more-namibia-china-blocks-search-results-entire-country">ONI Blog</a></em><br /><br />According to the Chinese government, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namibia">Namibia</a> &mdash; a southern African country with a population of 2 million &mdash; does not exist.<br /><br />Government censors <a href="http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/07/central-propaganda-department-censorship-order-on-the-case-of-hu-haifeng-son-of-hu-jintao/">ordered</a> Chinese search engines to show no search results for the country's name this week, following a corruption scandal involving a Chinese tech company's dealings with Namibia's government.<br /><br />The company, Nutech, was formerly run by the son of Chinese president Hu Jintao. It is under two separate <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/world/africa/22namibia.html">investigations</a> by Namibian and European Union officials for allegedly using illegal methods, including bribery and unfair trade practices, to secure a USD55.3 million contract to sell cargo scanners to the Namibian government.<br /><br />Though Jintao's son is not a suspect in the case, government censors have <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2009/07/22/namiba-what-namibia-chinese-web-censors-and-the-presidents-son/">reacted swiftly</a> to the investigation, <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2009/tc20090722_272350.htm">shutting down</a> two Chinese tech news sites and blocking a <a href="http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/07/central-propaganda-department-censorship-order-on-the-case-of-hu-haifeng-son-of-hu-jintao/">list of keywords</a> including "Hu Haifeng, Namibia, Namibia bribery investigation, Yang Fan bribery investigation, Nuctech bribery investigation, [and] southern Africa bribery investigation." Searching for these words on Chinese search engine Baidu.com produces an <a href="http://www.baidu.com/s?ct=0&ie=gb2312&bs=%C4%C9%C3%D7%B1%C8%D1%C7+%D0%D0%BB%DF%B5%F7%B2%E9&z=&cl=3&f=8&wd=%C4%CF%B2%BF%B7%C7%D6%DE+%D0%D0%BB%DF%B5%F7%B2%E9">error message</a> [ZH] that can be translated as, "Search results may not be in line with the relevant laws and regulations and policies, not shown."<br /><br />The past two months have been busy ones for Chinese censors. In early June the government <a href="http://opennet.net/blog/2009/06/china-blocks-twitter-hotmail-flickr-tiananmen-anniversary">blocked access</a> to Twitter, Hotmail and Flickr in preparation for the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Less than a week later, the <a href="http://opennet.net/blog/2009/06/china-require-web-filters-all-pcs">news broke</a> that the government would begin requiring all PCs sold in the country to come equipped with <a href="http://opennet.net/chinas-green-dam-the-implications-government-control-encroaching-home-pc">Internet filtering software</a>. And in July, Internet access was <a href="http://opennet.net/blog/2009/07/china-shuts-down-internet-xinjiang-region-after-riots">completely shut down</a> in the capital of the Xinjiang region after ethnic riots that left nearly 200 people dead.<br /><br />For more information on China's Internet filtering practices, check out the OpenNet Initiative's recently released <a href="http://opennet.net/research/profiles/china">China country profile</a>.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-88486238855812700832009-07-22T15:06:00.002-04:002009-07-22T15:28:01.509-04:00GV Uganda: Government Quiet as Famine Takes TollMy next piece is up at <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org">Global Voices</a>:<br /><blockquote>As drought spreads throughout East Africa, more than three million Ugandans are <a href="http://reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/MINE-7TS4FD?OpenDocument">at risk</a> of starvation. According to a recent <a href="http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/bp130-suffering-the-science">Oxfam report</a>, the famine is the result of spectacular climate change in the region. <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2007/09/29/uganda-bloggers-respond-to-massive-flooding/">Massive floods</a> in 2007 ruined crops and eroded fields throughout northern and eastern Uganda. The current drought, which is also <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/07/20/kenya-devastating-drought-worsens-human-wildlife-conflict/">affecting neighboring Kenya</a>, has worsened the food shortage and led to the current crisis. Hunger has <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/regional-special/Famine_kills_11_in_Lira_88175.shtml">claimed</a> the lives of more than 40 people in the northern and eastern parts of the country, and bloggers fear more will die before the government takes notice.<br /><br /><a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/07/22/uganda-government-quiet-as-famine-takes-toll/">Read more &raquo;</a></blockquote><br />Bloggers <a href="http://trampcard.blogspot.com/2009/07/blame-it-on-weatherman.html">Antipop</a>, <a href="http://eizzy.blogspot.com/2009/07/have-we-reached-state-of-ichabod.html">Eizzy</a>, <a href="http://www.independent.co.ug/index.php/uganda-talks/uganda-talks/102-uganda-talks/1262-guest-blog-government-reaction-to-hunger-deaths-inadequate">Kyomuhendo-Ateenyi</a> and <a href="http://inanafricanminute.blogspot.com/2009/07/when-people-die-of-hunger.html">Josh</a> are featured.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-61924185907189502252009-07-14T13:35:00.001-04:002009-07-14T13:37:39.402-04:00giorgos cheliotis: mapping the global commons<span style="display: block; background: #DDD; padding: 5px;">Liveblogging Giorgos Cheliotis's presentation on <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2009/07/cheliotis">Mapping the Global Commons: A Quantitative Perspective on Free Cultural Practice</a> at the <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/">Berkman Center</a>. Please excuse misrepresentation, misinterpretation, typos and general stupidity.</span><br />Cheliotis is interested in measuring the use of the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons</a> content pool. How much content exists? How free/open is it? How fast is it changing? How much of it is being remixed and fed back into the pool?<br /><br />You can try to count everything individually, or you can use estimates, community-specific data, external reports and local knowledge. There's an inverse relationship between the scale and the accuracy/richness of your data.<br /><br />The <a href="http://monitor.creativecommons.org/Main_Page">CC Monitor</a> project tracks the global development of Creative Commons (CC) licensing. It is still being developed, but the project has been tracking the use of CC licenses for over three years. It does not include unported licenses, often used by those in countries that do not have <a href="http://creativecommons.org/international/">country-specific licenses</a>.<br /><br />According to the project's <a href="http://monitor.creativecommons.org/World">World</a> section, North America and Europe use CC licenses more than most regions in the world, with a few notable exceptions: Brazil, which has a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/6155">sizable CC movement</a>, and some parts of Asia.<br /><br />Cheliotis is interested in the spread of CC licensing &mdash; who is using it and why, and how is it moving from person to person or organization to organization?<br /><br />The CC Monitor project assigns a "freedom score" to each country based on the most frequently used type of CC license. <a href="http://creativecommons.org/license/">CC licenses</a> give users of licensed content different permissions. Some works can be used with no restrictions, while the use of others is constrained to non-commercial purposes or in cases where the resulting work is also CC-licensed.<br /><br />CC Monitor assigns points to each license on a scale of 1 to 6, 6 being the most free (most permissive), then assigns an overall score based on these points. The global freedom score is 3.2. Some other scores:<ul><li><a href="http://monitor.creativecommons.org/South_Africa">South Africa</a>: 3.67</li><li><a href="http://monitor.creativecommons.org/South_Korea">South Korea</a>: 1.76</li><li><a href="http://monitor.creativecommons.org/Thailand">Thailand</a>: 2.58</li></ul><br />One way that Cheliotis tracks content reuse is through <a href="http://ccmixter.org/">CCMixter</a>, which allows people to create remixes, samples and mashups of CC-licensed content. Cheliotis' analysis of this content has shown that with a few small exceptions, all of the content on CCMixter is interconnected. The maximum number of remixes he's found so far is 6, but the number of works per generation of reuse drops quickly &mdash; most remixes draw on original content, rather than a pre-existing remix. He also found a significant number of peer-to-peer relationships: "I remix content from you, you remix from me." <br /><br />It's not yet possible to break down content by type (music, video, text, photography), nor is Cheliotis' project currently tracking content that's in the public domain (as opposed to strictly CC-licensed). These are both areas into which he would like to expand in the future.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-54304407823484962002009-06-30T13:14:00.002-04:002009-06-30T13:41:07.970-04:00Ben Wikler: Changing the World of Changing the World<span style="display: block; background: #DDD; padding: 5px;">Liveblogging Ben Wikler's presentation on <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2009/06/wikler">Changing the World of Changing the World: Pushing the Models of Online Organizing</a> at the <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/">Berkman Center</a>. Please excuse misrepresentation, misinterpretation, typos and general stupidity.</span><br /><br />Ben Wikler of <a href="http://avaaz.org">Avaaz.org</a> is at the <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu">Berkman Center</a> today to talk about new models of online organizing. <br /><br />Wikler begins by explaining net-centered vs. broadcast-centered online activism. The Internet is a little bit like the Brazilian butterfly flapping its wings, causing a thunderstorm in Belgium &mdash; except we are all butterflies, and it can be hard to tell how we can act together to (for example) bring rain to the hypothetically drought-stricken Belgium.<br /><br /><br /><strong style="font-size: 1.2em;">Netcentric Activism</strong><br />One method is the <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/03/02/china-more-on-grass-mud-horse/">"Grass Mud Horse"</a> &mdash; a grassroots protest against Internet censorship in China. Aggregated actions of individual citizens can be channeled for strategic purposes, but's a bit like a shotgun blast vs. a laser beam. It can be hard to focus on your target or to deliver a clear message.<br /><br /><br /><strong style="font-size: 1.2em;">Broadcast-Centered Online Activism</strong><br /><a href="http://avaaz.org">Avaaz.org</a> sends specific, targeted e-mails to different groups of activists. The key to making this work is to incorporate dialogue: there's generally a broad consensus on the need for solutions to problems like climate change, human rights abuses and political crises (even in the Israel/Palestine conflict, "most people support a two-state solution," Wikler says). Avaaz works to "give global public opinion teeth" by building a community. They then track the numerical and qualitative responses to their campaigns throughout this community, allowing them to modify their message as necessary.<br /><br />If the Internet is a series of tubes, global civil society is a series of tubs, says Wikler &mdash; each issue or campaign (Burma, climate change, Zimbabwe) has its own group of interested people. The Internet allows us to connect these tubs to tubes, channeling the water to the biggest fires.<br /><br />Avaaz is intentionally multi-issue. Wikler's found that the same people who care about what's happening in Zimbabwe are likely to care about what's happening in Sri Lanka. Avaaz looks for ways to channel these common interests into actionable items that can be acted on quickly by members of the larger Avaaz community. <br /><br /><br /><strong style="font-size: 1.2em;">What is Avaaz?</strong><br />Lightning rod: Avaaz's method allows the channeling of "amorphous public concern" into targeted action. <br /><br />Battery: Avaaz allows you to build a movement and then tap it for future issues &mdash; people concerned about the political crackdown in Burma are more likely to care about the cyclone that came later. Avaaz stores this communal energy, making it easy to build support for campaigns without starting from scratch.<br /><br />SWAT team: Avaaz operates in a very targeted way. Some of Avaaz's partners can't be political for fear of putting their in-country staff at risk, but Avaaz has the freedom to criticize.<br /><br />Stem cell: multiple communities can build off of Avaaz.<br /><br /><br /><strong style="font-size: 1.2em;"><a href="https://secure.avaaz.org/en/report_back_2/#burma">Burma campaigns</a></strong><br />During the fall 2007 crackdown in Burma, 850,000 people got involved through Avaaz. Avaaz presented a petition to the UN Security Council, but that was just the beginning. Its European members contacted the European Parliament; its members in Singapore asked the foreign minister to be more harsh on the junta; other groups acted in other targeted ways. Avaaz was able to work with established groups to get guidance about what would be effect, then to bring in a huge number of concerned people from around the globe who wanted to help but didn't know how.<br /><br />When the cyclone hit Burma the following spring, Avaaz was able to partner with in-country monks who were part of the relief efforts.<br /><br /><br /><strong style="font-size: 1.2em;">Challenges</strong><br />Because everything is mediated through the staff, there's a limit on the number of campaigns Avaaz can run. They also have trouble tapping existing expertise. There has to be a way to open things up so Avaaz members can point Avaaz to local crises while also maintaining some sort of filter to make sure that campaigns retain a high level of quality and are relevant to members. <br /><br />Wikler is afraid that opening up a dialogue may inundate Avaaz members with too many e-mails, drowning out important issues and overwhelming those who only have a small amount of time to donate to any particular cause.<br /><br />Avaaz has started small but high-volume local groups to try to manage some of this, starting a small campaign and then expanding it to other members after it is established. <br /><br />Another idea is to run public trainings, teaching people how to do online activism, then let them submit campaign ideas, which will then be rated by other members before being acted on by Avaaz as an organization.<br /><br />Wikler believes that online activism is still in its infancy &mdash; he says there's a global gap in the models that currently exist. He closes by saying we're all in one big tub and asks if we have any ideas for new models of online activism.<br /><br /><br /><strong style="font-size: 1.2em;">Questions</strong><br /><em>Q: Has anyone ever attempted to use Avaaz's tools for a purpose the organizational staff disagreed with?</em><br />A: People wanted to boycott the Olympics because of Chinese censorship, but Avaaz felt this would backfire within China. Wikler spoke with activists in Hong Kong, who said China would respond by tightening control even further. <br /><br /><em>Q from Jonathan Zittrain: How is Avaaz governed? Are governance issues a distraction? Does Avaaz aspire to become more organically governed (like, say, Wikipedia)?</em><br />A: Avaaz is a small group of people in a huge room of noisy people. Unlike a government, it's completely voluntary. Instead of speaking on behalf of all 3.5 million members, Avaaz only speaks on behalf of those who participate in any particular campaign. It's a "horizontal culture" &mdash; the executive director only greenlights campaigns that already have support from a random sample of members, and Avaaz is 80 percent funded by its members. Avaaz wants to avoid being directed by either the whims of the staff or the whims of a small group of members. <br /><br /><em>Q from Jonathan Zittrain: Might be interesting to use multiple approaches to issues, letting people choose multiple ways to be involved in multiple campaigns. Either that or giving people multiple ways to participate in choosing campaigns, so you can see what appeals to people with various amounts of free time.</em><br />A: Avaaz does some of this. They responded to the economic crisis with a long poll open to all members that generated options for action and let members vote these up or down. This resulted in a package of action items, some of which Avaaz staff wouldn't have thought of, that people could pick and choose from.<br /><br /><em>Q: How do you define action? Just writing letters to politicians and sending money? What about collecting best practices that can be adapted for individual causes? We give away our power when we say that petitioning politicians is the best we can do.</em><br />A: What happens on the Internet often stays on the Internet, and using online activity to unleash offline activity is something Avaaz is working hard on. Many of the issues on which Avaaz works can't be affected by individual actions that don't involve government &mdash; such as carbon emissions. Avaaz is about helping people to find ways to take action together when they know that taking action alone isn't enough &mdash; looking for the domino effect.<br /><br /><em>Q: When will Avaaz have achieved its goal? What metrics are being used to show the community the progress that has been made?</em><br />A: Avaaz exists in moments and particular campaigns. It doesn't have a manifesto &mdash; its brand is "deployed" on behalf of the people who are taking action. In a world this complex, there aren't any good yardsticks to measure success. The ultimate metric is communicating with your members to let them know how things turned out.<br /><br /><em>Q: It seems like you're focusing on short-time action that can make a difference on a specific issue, rather than long-term sustained action.</em><br />A: In some senses that's true. Each individual development (a march, a petition) is somewhat disconnected, but over time the number of people involved in a campaign (supporting democracy in Zimbabwe, for example) grows and can be remobilized &mdash; it's like a snowball.<br /><br /><em>Q: What percentage of Avaaz's actions is based on global public opinion, and what percentage is focused on other things? It's easy to get "petition overload."</em><br />A: Maybe half and half, or closer to 40 percent opinion. Avaaz does a lot of funding public opinion polls, advertising campaigns, support for Internet access &mdash; moving more towards these types of things: "activity beyond the outcry." But more people are willing to sign a petition than to donate, at a ratio of 100:1.<br /><br /><em>Q: How did you pick your languages?</em><br />A: Political activism in multiple languages involves more than just translation &mdash; you have to shift your content into the political idioms of those languages. Avaaz is working on a Farsi language site right now. They have to figure out how to expand without becoming a translation organization.<br /><br /><em>Q: How often do members reject an idea from Avaaz?</em><br />A: Can't think of a time when something's gotten strong support in a test but not in the general membership. Around 30-50 percent of tested campaigns don't pass the threshold, though. The rate has improved over time, as staff become more familiar with the work and with the members.<br /><br /><br /><strong style="font-size: 1.2em;">Question from Wikler</strong><br />What's the most convenient way for you tell Avaaz about an issue you want them to work on? Contact Ben [at] avaaz.org.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-59338790907584733242009-06-29T11:43:00.004-04:002009-06-29T11:52:43.024-04:00There Will Be Ink<div class="photobox" style="width: 251px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; float: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/SkjicjIIqsI/AAAAAAAAAtU/F-WGKyYGuxg/s1600-h/Picture+6.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 251px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/SkjicjIIqsI/AAAAAAAAAtU/F-WGKyYGuxg/s320/Picture+6.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352777137223412418" /></a></div>The <a href="http://jackfruity.blogspot.com/2009/01/in-search-of-few-good-journalists.html">research</a> I did in Uganda in January has just been published. <br /><br /><a href="http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/ipd/files/ThereWillBeInk.pdf">There Will be Ink: A study of journalism training and the extractive industries in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda</a> <strong>(PDF)</strong> is the product of research I conducted with five other students from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the spring of 2009. <br /><br />We surveyed media coverage of the extractive sector and interviewed African journalists who had training in business and economic reporting. Our goal was to identify the training practices that are most helpful in teaching journalists how to encourage government transparency in the extractive industries through their reporting.<br /><br />The journalists surveyed said that journalism training had improved their coverage of the extractives, but we concluded that there are other challenges in the African media landscape that are not addressed by training. These include low salaries, lack of resources, pressure from government and advertisers and the lack of freedom of information laws. The report includes recommendations for organizations planning journalism training activities in countries with extractive sectors.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-67774401022759769012009-06-29T10:09:00.008-04:002009-06-29T11:36:01.744-04:00WordPress blocked in Guatemala<div style="float: right; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 320px; font-size: 10px; text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/SkjLdIZh-FI/AAAAAAAAAtE/7eHifl4Turc/s1600-h/guatemala_WPposter.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 271px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/SkjLdIZh-FI/AAAAAAAAAtE/7eHifl4Turc/s320/guatemala_WPposter.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352751858461046866" /></a><em>WordPress blocked. Guatemala follows China's example</em></div><em>Crossposted on the <a href="http://opennet.net/blog/2009/06/wordpress-blocked-guatemala">OpenNet Initiative blog</a></em><br /><br />Guatemala's ongoing <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/05/15/guatemala-rosenberg-video-causes-uncertainty-and-speculation/">political crisis</a>, which began with the murder of lawyer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Rosenberg_Marzano">Rodrigo Rosenberg</a> and has been fueled largely by YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and blogs, reached a new level over the weekend when several ISPs began blocking access to WordPress.com.<br /><br />Reports of the blocking first reached Twitter on June 26, when user <a href="http://twitter.com/demuxer">@demuxer</a> noted that some Internet users in Guatemala were unable to access WordPress and wondered if <a href="http://chapintocables.wordpress.com/">Chapintocables</a>, a political blog created after Rosenberg's death, was somehow involved:<br /><br /><center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/SkjLdViqaSI/AAAAAAAAAtM/QsAxCwalGRA/s1600-h/guatemala-tweet.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 169px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/SkjLdViqaSI/AAAAAAAAAtM/QsAxCwalGRA/s320/guatemala-tweet.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352751861989009698" /></a><br /><span style="display: block; width: 300px;"><em>Some users in Guatemala can't access wordpress, is it @chapinocables' fault? #insolitogt #escandalogt</em></span></center><br /><br />The news spread through Twitter and Facebook, with many Guatemalans encouraging their fellow Internet users to report the blocking on <a href="http://www.herdict.org/web/">Herdict</a>, which tracks reports of inaccessible sites worldwide. Reports from Guatemala <a href="http://www.herdict.org/web/explore/detail/id/GT/2946">saw a spike</a> over the weekend, with WordPress.com reported inaccessible nearly 30 times. <br /><br /><center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/SkjLdMXmd9I/AAAAAAAAAs8/DrbAQF8h5lk/s1600-h/guatemala_WP.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 79px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qnlHGwqgbKY/SkjLdMXmd9I/AAAAAAAAAs8/DrbAQF8h5lk/s320/guatemala_WP.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352751859526694866" /></a></center><br /><br />The block was initially attributed to technical errors, but as WordPress continues to be inaccessible, opinions are changing. Eduardo Arcos of Alt1040 <a href="http://alt1040.com/2009/06/guatemala-bloquea-el-acceso-a-wordpresscom">writes</a> [ES]:<br /><br /><blockquote><em>Supuestamente se atribuyen problemas técnicos, pero el sentido común dice que se trata de un intento por parte del gobierno guatemalteco de reducir el acceso a información independiente, libre y crítica sobre la crisis política que se vive en el país y la relación con <a href="http://alt1040.com/tag/jeanfer">el caso del Twitter de Jeanfer</a>.</em><br /><br />[The block has been] allegedly attributed to technical problems, but common sense says that this is an attempt by the Guatemalan government to reduce access to independent information that is free and critical about the political crisis experienced in the country and the respect <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://alt1040.com/tag/jeanfer&prev=hp&rurl=translate.google.com">for Jeanfer of Twitter</a>. [the man who was <a href="http://opennet.net/blog/2009/05/%E2%80%9Cfinancial-panic%E2%80%9D-and-online-censorship-guatemala">arrested</a> for criticizing the government on Twitter].</blockquote><br /><br />David Alayón of Bitacoras <a href="http://bitacoras.com/noticias/archivos/wordpress-com-bloqueado-por-guatemala.php">concurs</a> [ES]:<br /><br /><blockquote><em>Desde hace unos días, los usuario de Wordpress.com residentes en Guatemala no tienen acceso a este servicio. Se ha descartado la posibilidad de ser un error relacionado con los proveedores de Internet y se baraja el hecho de que el propio gobierno lo haya bloqueado.</em><br /><br />For several days, the Wordpress.com users in Guatemala have had no access to the service. The possibility of this being an error related to Internet service providers has been ruled out, and [opinion] has shifted to the idea that the government has blocked it.</blockquote><br /><br /><br />Today Chapintocables <a href="http://chapintocables.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/censura-en-guatemala-bloqueo-wordpress/">reported</a> [ES] that three ISPs, Turbonet, Telgua and Tigo, are currently blocking access to WordPress.com:<br /><br /><blockquote><em>Actualmente, TurboNet, Telgua, y Tigo son los que tienen restringido el acceso a nuestros blogs, los invitamos gentilmente a que levanten este bloqueo, porque ESTAMOS EN GUATEMALA, NO EN CHINA.</em><br /><br />Currently, TurboNet, Telgua and Tico have restricted access to our blogs, we gently invite them to the lift the block, because WE ARE IN GUATEMALA, NOT IN CHINA.</blockquote><br /><br />According to Twitter reports, WordPress.com is still accessible through ISP Cybernet de Guatemala S.A.<br /><br /><strong>UPDATE:</strong> Renata Avila just <a href="http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/06/29/wordpresscom-blocked-in-guatemala/">posted an update</a> on the situation on <a href="http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org">Global Voices Advocacy</a>.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-73559313925745336852009-06-25T11:34:00.003-04:002009-06-25T11:40:43.229-04:00Wedding rush sparked by free malaria nets<a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/index">The Onion</a> is good, but it definitely doesn't have a monopoly on satirical journalism. Yesterday Uganda's <a href="http://www.observer.ug/">Weekly Observer</a> published this <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200906250860.html">breaking headline</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote><strong style="font-size: 1.2em;">Uganda: Millions More to Wed As Govt Doles Out Mosquito Nets</strong><br /><br />"When we asked the couples why they have chosen this particular time to enter holy matrimony, they all had the same answer: that government was going to give them free wedding gowns!" said a source at Peter's Church of Uganda in Kampala. The source added that when they investigated further, they realized that the couples were referring to the government's recent announcement to distribute over 17 million free mosquito nets to combat malaria, which is the leading killer disease in the country. According to health officials, malaria kills 320 people daily.<br /><br />Asked whether converting mosquito nets into wedding gowns would not undermine government efforts to reduce malaria deaths, one church official said that "the soul is more important than the body."</blockquote><br />Well played, Weekly Observer. Well played.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-92219980756002663862009-06-17T11:16:00.003-04:002009-06-17T11:20:57.923-04:00Ugandan journalist, 10 others arrested for treasonThe New Vision is reporting that Patrick Otim, a Pader-based freelance journalist, was <a href="http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/684953">arrested and charged with treason</a> along with 10 other men. The group was allegedly forming a rebel organization to fight against the Ugandan government:<br /><br /><blockquote>They allegedly mobilised logistical support for their rebellion, which included satellite phones, solar panels, Global Positioning System (GPS) machines, black polythene sheets, gum boots, walkie talkies, laptops and fire-arms.<br /><br />The 11 suspects appeared before Buganda Road Court Magistrate Geoffrey Sayekwo but were not allowed to enter plea because the court did not have jurisdiction. They were unkempt.<br /><br />Sayekwo read out the charges before sending them on remand to Luzira Prison. They face a second, alternative charge of concealing treason.<br /><br />The suspects, according to the charge sheet, committed the offence between 2006 and May 2009 in eight districts, including Masindi and Kampala. The other districts are Gulu, Pader, Kitgum, Nebbi, Apac and Amuru.</blockquote><br /><br />Blogren, have you heard anything about this?rebekahnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24380227.post-20830121695825098182009-06-16T12:30:00.002-04:002009-06-16T13:34:05.378-04:00Beth Kolko: ICTs and their uses in resource constrained environments<span style="display: block; background: #DDD; padding: 5px;">Liveblogging <a href="http://bethkolko.com/">Beth Kolko's</a> presentation on <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2009/06/kolko">Form, Function and Fiction: ICTs and their uses in resource constrained environments</a> at the Berkman Center. Please excuse misrepresentation, misinterpretation, typos and general stupidity.</span><br /><br />The Design for Digital Inclusion group at the University of Washington, which Kolko heads, works on a variety of topics, including tech in Central Asia, the Global Impact Study, the impact of public access to ICTs, technologies for youth with autism, games for development, and more.<br /><br />Kolko focuses on three main questions: what ICTs are adopted in diverse communities and why? What do people in these communities do with these ICTs? How can we design better technologies for these users?<br /><br />We assume that ICTs have universal meanings across cultural contexts, but the functions of these technologies vary widely from culture to culture. We need to pay attention to this diversity because designing with it in mind makes systems stronger, less brittle.<br /><br />Kolko approaches design from both the engineering and humanities perspectives: both form and function. The goal is to blur the boundaries between these two categories until they eventually collapse.<br /><br />People tend to "get sleepy" when people talk about technology and development, but the findings from the ICT4D field are relevant to a number of communities. Geography is not the primary determiner of resource constraints &mdash; the technology developed in, say, Central Asia can be useful in Yakima Valley (in Washington state).<br /><br />Resource constraints include not just money but also time, cultural capital, screen size, bandwidth. <br /><br />Kolko's work in Central Asia has both quantitative and qualitative components, including annual surveys, interviews and usability tests. The survey doesn't focus on tech use (though it does have a tech use model) &mdash; Kolko's interested in issues of trust, social networks and social institutions as well as technology.<br /><br />[[Side note: Kolko apologizes for not having a LOLcat photo in her presentation.]]<br /><br />Internet is weather-dependent: in some places, when it rains, the Internet goes down because rainclouds block satellite access. This intermittent connectivity happens in Central Asia and Cambodia, but also in the rural United States.<br /><br />Patterns of Internet use (both frequency and duration of access) vary widely across cultures. In Central Asia, most users are online for an hour at a time. There are different pricing structures for chat and actual Internet use (accessing Web pages, etc.).<br /><br />Mobile phones are particularly key in resource-constrained environments. Mobile phones weren't created to transfer money, but they're being used for <a href="http://www.safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=745">banking</a>. This, along with general mobile Internet access, brings up questions of mobile phone security. (Moral: if you have an iPhone, use a password.)<br /><br />Why <em>don't</em> people use the Internet? It's too expensive, too hard to access, or too confusing. Also: many Central Asians think it's "for young people" (though the definition of who's young depends on who's answering the question).<br /><br />Kolko has conducted some design ethnography work focused on the exchange of goods and information via social network in Central Asia. Controlling for demographics, people who use their conventional social networks (face-to-face communication) more are more likely to use technology. These people are also more likely to have higher levels of trust in their friends and family.<br /><br />Of Central Asian Internet users, more people use the Internet for research for school or job training than for any other purpose. The least common use is for online auctions.<br /><br />Most Central Asians use their mobile phones several times a day (though only 2% of mobile phones are connected to the Internet). People use their phones not because landlines are particularly expensive or hard to get, but because they want to be able to be reached no matter where they are.<br /><br />Mobiles aren't always great: people are already using them for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_fee_fraud">419</a>-type scams. But their role has been noticeable in the political sphere: after the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_Revolution">2008 revolution</a> in Kyrgyzstan, phones were used to report rioting and looting, both to warn people to stay home and to rally friends and family to help protect businesses. In Kenya, SMS was used to <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/4703">spread rumors</a> and incite violence.<br /><br />Part of Kolko's research focuses on games for development. Games are cheaper and, often, easier to use than the Internet. For many Central Asian kids, games provide an first introduction to ICT. This initial training in ICT may give these kids a leg up in terms of later educational and career opportunities.<br /><br />All of the examples above help provide a better understanding of how ICTs are used in resource-constrained environments. But how to build better ICTs for these regions? You need to focus on <a href="http://www.wordspy.com/words/designethnographer.asp">design ethnography</a>. For example, looking at how people use mobile phones, how they use their social networks, and the "pain points" of their everyday lives.<br /><br />Researchers interviewed Central Asians in their homes and had them draw diagrams of their own social networks. Their research lead them to two projects: the Mobile Social Software (MoSoSo) directory addresses the lack of published information directories, working through SMS instead of Internet to list and rate businesses. The Starbus focuses on providing more information about public transportation, using GPS and traffic algorithms to track the location and estimated arrival time of a bus, then send this information via SMS to users who request it.<br /><br />Interestingly, the initial Starbus design was as low-power as possible to maximize the battery life. They tested the system in Seattle and it worked, but when they brought it to Bishkek they realized that the cell phone towers there required the GPS to have more power. They had to rewire the whole thing &mdash; "a classic design approach that failed miserably."<br /><br />In order to design the best and most appropriate ICTs, you need to drill deeply to truly define what an "Internet user" is in a particular environment &mdash; you can't assume all Internet users access or use the Internet in the same way.rebekahnoreply@blogger.com1